In a small study involving three participants, researchers implanted anagen hair follicles into mature scars, and found that transplantation led to an increase in epidermal thickness, interdigitation of the epidermal-dermal junction, and an increase in both dermal cell and blood vessel density. Posttransplant, the follicles also continued to produce hair. In addition, there were genetic changes recorded posttransplant, with the scar samples registering over 700 genetic changes, specifically, in differentially and significantly regulation. These findings were published by Plotczyk et al in npj Regenerative Medicine. Senior author Claire Higgins, PhD, offered these thoughts in a companion press release from Imperial College London: “While current treatments for scars like growth factors focus on single contributors to scarring, our new approach tackles multiple aspects, as the hair follicle likely delivers multiple growth factors all at once that remodel scar tissue. This lends further support to the use of treatments like hair transplantation that alter the very architecture and genetic expression of scars to restore function.”
April 30, 2023